Happy Holy Week: Today is Holy Thursday, aka the day that Jesus did the whole “Last Supper” and “invented of the Eucharist” and “celebrated the first Mass” and “instituted the priesthood” thing. It’s kind of a big one.
Also, as of this evening, Lent is over!1 You did it!
What I did this week: Here is everything I wrote for Catholic News Agency since the last issue dropped. Any commentary in The Thursday News Dump is my opinion,2 and not reflective of anyone else or my employer.
“‘Give them hope’: How parishes can be a light amid violence and racism” I talked to Bishop Oscar Solis of Salt Lake City about anti-Asian racism and what can be done to promote understanding and unity.
“Canada’s assisted suicide law could especially harm indigenous peoples, group warns” In the process of writing this piece, I learned that if the territory of Nunavut was a country, it would have the highest suicide rate in the world.
“Providence diocese opposes bill expanding liability for child sex abuse” This one was hard to write. I empathize with all sides of the story here.
“Federal court sides with D.C. Archdiocese on church capacity limits” DC was the last area to have a hard cap on church capacity, which is odd considering Maryland and Virginia do not have these caps. A judge agreed with this take.
“Senators demand investigation into Planned Parenthood getting PPP loans” A letter from 25 senators is asking why Planned Parenthood affiliates received PPP loans numerous times despite not being eligible for these loans.
“New Jersey parish reverses vaccine mandate for confessions” Canon law remains, even in a pandemic. This was a frustrating piece to write.
“Supreme Court will consider if Kentucky attorney general can defend pro-life law” I have a sneaky feeling the next few months are going to be in-ter-es-ting at the Supreme Court.
“Arkansas legislature passes ban on gender-transitioning procedures for children” See above.
“Several pro-life bills advance in Texas” See above.
Recipe of the week: One of the greatest things about living where I live is access to absolutely excellent Asian grocery stores. I actually just “discovered” one today, and I think it might be my new go-to.3
Asian cooking appears on the surface to be complicated and intimidating, but I’ve learned over the last two-ish years that most of the difficulty in cooking Asian cuisine is related to the acquisition of ingredients.4 The actual cooking techniques are fairly simple,5 and the difficulty-to-flavor ratio is absolutely insane.
Which brings us to this week’s recipe of the week: chicken pad thai.
I combined a few different pad thai recipes when I was making this dish, and I honestly think this was the best it has ever come out.
I mostly used this recipe, but with some tweaks. I didn’t use shrimp and tofu, because I didn’t have them and didn’t feel like going to the store, and I used more preserved radish than suggested, because that stuff is the bomb-dot-com.6 Additionally, I took a cue from this recipe and started off my pad thai using some dried shrimp that I blitzed in my Magic Bullet as an umami-boosting aromatic.
I topped the pad thai with fried garlic, as fried garlic is delicious and makes everything it touches taste better. I also added a dusting of chili powder, which was kind of a mistake as the Thai don’t mess around when it comes to chili and this was much spicier than I thought it would be.7
I’ve really leaned in to cooking Asian cuisine, and I hope my recipe recaps and Twitter food threads have inspired you to experiment in the kitchen. It’s delicious and so worth going a little out of your way for ingredients.
Throwback Thursday: I’m very late to video games. And I’m very bad at video games.8 I bought a Nintendo Switch in June, the first modern console I have owned…ever. As a child, I had an NES, and eventually a PS2 that was mostly played by my father and brother. I also had a GameBoy Color and a GameBoy Advance SP, which were solid handheld systems.
Anyhow, so the jump to the Nintendo Switch was…jarring. For the first few days, it was reminiscent of grandma trying to use a microwave. I played through my old favorites with the free downloads from Nintendo Switch Online; was frustrated and challenged by New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe;9 and was utterly mystified by Super Mario Odyssey.1011
Having missed the SNES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo Wii U,12 I also missed out on the various Mario iterations from those consoles. When Nintendo announced the creation of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I was elated. Finally, my time to catch up! I can find out what a Rosalina is!13
HOT TAKES COMING AHEAD, SCROLL DOWN IF YOU’RE SENSITIVE
Super Mario 3D All-Stars contains three games: Super Mario 64 (1996), Super Mario Sunshine (2002), and Super Mario Galaxy (2007). I had never played any of them before and had minimal idea of any sort of storyline. I assumed Princess Peach would inevitably get kidnapped.14
I was initially most excited for Mario 64, but found that the graphics and controls were frustrating. The game was not fun to play on the Switch. The first time I played it, I actually watched my friend lose respect for me after I repeatedly fell off a bridge by accident. Swimming? Impossible. Perhaps I’ll give it yet another shot, but for now, no.
Sunshine was…an experience. It did introduce me to Toadsworth, who made me squeal out loud upon first sight, but holy Hannah is this game borderline unplayable. It has a ton of potential, but I think it needs a complete re-do to be playable on something other than the GameCube.
And that leaves us to Galaxy. The first attempt(s) I made at Galaxy were…not the best, but it was easily the most playable of the three games on 3D All-Stars. I was confused by the storyline, and I was doubly confused by how the storyline made me feel genuine emotions for a cartoon star.
This week, I decided to start from square one with a new save file, now that I had a basic idea of how to actually play the game. This was a good decision, and, big shocker here, the game is much more enjoyable once you know what you’re doing. I’ve had legitimate fun playing this game, and I think it aged fairly well for being nearly 14 years old.
So far, I’ve beaten the main part of the game, and now I’m doing the (seemingly) Sisyphean task of collecting the remaining stars. I’m a big fan of the Toad Brigade and the little blue toad with the glasses is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard Super Mario Galaxy 2 is even better than the original, and I really hope it’s ported to the Switch before too long.
Parting thoughts: I was lucky enough to get an early visit from the Easter Bunnies.15 Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!
The liturgical season of Lent, that is. Welcome to the Triduum, the most hectic three days of the liturgical year. It’s a Dominican Tradition to indulge in your Lenten penance the evening of Holy Thursday, which I plan on doing.
Which should also be your opinion, let’s be real.
Good Fortune Supermarket in Falls Church.
I’ve watched a ton of cooking YouTube videos. My favorites are Marion’s Kitchen, Maangchi, Seonkyoung Longest, Joshua Weissman, and Binging With Babish.
Notable exception: Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. I’m not sure how one makes this without the use of witchcraft. It is my proverbial white whale of cooking.
The first time I cooked with it, I realized that this was The Ingredient that I couldn’t figure out when I’d eat pad thai from a restaurant.
A lesson learned for the future.
With the exception of the original Super Mario game, at which I absolutely rule at.
I love the super concise and not at all convoluted naming conventions of Mario games.
I also played Super Mario Maker 2, which was amusing.
Are you sensing a theme?
To be fair, EVERYONE missed the Wii U.
I’m convinced she’s a Marian allegory and will not be fielding questions on this.
Why won’t the Mushroom Kingdom pay for proper security for their LITERAL ROYALTY?
If there’s no The Thursday News Dump next week, assume that they have successfully plotted their revenge.